Verizon to slash 8,000 jobs

Tuesday

Jul 28, 2009 at 2:00 AM

NEW YORK — Verizon will cut more than 8,000 jobs before the end of the year to keep costs in line.The communications giant, which employs 600 in the Hudson Valley, blamed the rapid erosion of its traditional land-line business.

George Spohr

NEW YORK — Verizon will cut more than 8,000 jobs before the end of the year to keep costs in line.

The communications giant, which employs 600 in the Hudson Valley, blamed the rapid erosion of its traditional land-line business.

In the past, hiring at Verizon Wireless helped to offset layoffs at its other business units. As a result, even though the company laid off 8,000 already this year, its payroll grew because of aggressive hiring at Verizon Wireless, CFO John Killian said.

But the poor economy has exacerbated losses on its land-line units, and the company says it can no longer afford to maintain its existing payroll.

Bob Master, spokesman for Local 1101 of the Communications Workers of America, which represents most of the company's 600 local employees, said he's hopeful the 8,000 impending cuts won't hit its membership.

"If you look at the information closely, it says 8,000 employees and contractors (will be cut), and our contract says that before they can touch bargaining-unit employees, they have to get rid of all their outside contractors," Master said.

Of the 8,000 cuts Verizon has already made this year, "we have had no layoffs" that have affected CWA-represented employees, Master said. "At this point, we're hopeful that we will be able to avoid bargaining-unit layoffs, and that's our goal."

Verizon's announcement comes as its second-quarter profit fell 21 percent. It's unlikely even hiring at Verizon Wireless will make up for the layoffs.

"We probably will not have large-scale hiring until we're out of the recession," Verizon COO Denny Strigl said.

Including the 8,000 cuts already made this year, but excluding the 8,000 cuts Verizon announced Monday, the company ended the quarter with 235,000 employees, up from 229,000 a year ago.